Little Donkey
by x snow-pony x
Summary: A Christmas story. A girl comes to Ashdene Ridge for a few days, and when May-Li falls ill ends up helping Mike with the kids. But there are some secrets about her that no one could ever have guessed...


**A/N So, I've now been on this site for three years, and I thought I'd do a Christmas story. So, here it is. :-)**

 **Emma is portrayed by Mackenzie Foy.**

 **Mike POV**

"Everyone, house meeting!"

I heard the thundering of footsteps, and everyone made their way into the kitchen.

"Right," I began when everyone was there. "We have a new girl coming today, hopefully just for a few days..."

"But it's Christmas in two days!" complained Billie.

"Listen to what Mike has to say," said Toni.

"Her name's Emma, she's 15, and she's had a rough time of late and needs a little bit of a break with us," I continued. "And I'd like you all to treat her well." I paused. "Kazima and Sasha, I'd like to give her a bit of space, so would one of you move into the other's room just for the next few days so she can have her own room?"

Both girls nodded.

"I'll move into Sasha's room," said Kazima.

"Thank you," I said.

"What happened to her?" asked Floss.

"I'm sure she'll tell you if she wants to," said May-Li, who was stood next to me. "Just let her..."

I looked at her in concern as she stopped talking and swayed slightly. "May-Li? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "It's just a bug."

"Go home," I said gently. "We'll manage without you."

May-Li nodded, making her way to the office.

"Is she OK?" asked Joseph.

I nodded, giving the kids a smile. "Of course. I'm sure she'll be fine in a day or two."

Just then there was a knock at the door. I went to open it, and saw a girl I presumed to be Emma on the doorstep.

"Hi, Emma," I said. "I'm Mike. Nice to meet you."

Emma smiled, but the bags under her eyes showed something was wrong. "Nice to meet you too."

I showed her in, her looking around at the hall and the kids, who were coming out of the kitchen in curiosity.

She smiled at them. "Hi."

"Do you want me to show you to your room?" I asked.

Emma nodded, and I took her bags off her before walking up the stairs.

"Right, currently we have no rooms empty, but I've asked one of the girls to share temporarily, so she'll move her stuff out soon," I said.

"Oh, I don't want to be any trouble," said Emma.

I smiled. "You're not."

Emma smiled back, before she sat down on the bed that only a few weeks ago had been Carmen's.

"You can go to sleep if you want," I said. "You look tired."

"I'm OK," said Emma. She fiddled with the charm around her neck, before putting her hand back by her side.

"Is that a donkey?" I asked.

Emma nodded. "Yes." She paused. "My boyfriend got it for me."

I smiled, before I looked to the floor and back to Emma. "Right, are you going to be alright on your own?"

Emma nodded.

"OK," I said, giving her a smile. "I'll see you later then."

Emma nodded, before I left the room.

I went downstairs to the office, logging onto the computer and looking at the email I'd been sent about Emma. I was halfway through reading it when I stopped.

 _Emma has told us that she has a sister here, which is why we have moved her to Ashdene Ridge._

"A sister?" I said. I went out of the office. "Girls! House meeting!"

"What about the boys?" asked Tyler, coming out of the living room.

"I just need to speak to the girls," I said.

Once all the girls were in the kitchen I began.

"I've just read that Emma may have a sister here," I said. "Do any of you know who that might be?"

There was a moment of silence, before Billie stepped forward. "It's me. Toni is her sister too, but Emma thinks that Toni's still living with Dad. There was a time when we got split up, and..."

Toni put her hand on her sister's shoulder.

I went to the bottom of the stairs. "Emma!" I called. "Could you come down please?"

I heard some movement, and then Emma appeared.

"Come with me to the kitchen," I said.

Emma did as she was told, and then, on seeing the twins, she stopped.

"Billie?" she asked. "Toni? But I thought you were living at your dad's."

"I was," said Toni. "But then I had to go into care and they put me with Billie."

"Girls, do you want to come with me to the office?" I asked. "The rest of you, you can carry on with whatever you were doing."

The rest of the kids left, leaving Billie, Toni and Emma.

"Right," I said. "Come with me."

The three girls followed me to the office, where we went to have a little chat.

* * *

Half an hour later I allowed the girls to leave, before I went to the computer and began to type up what they had told me, adding it to their files.

Emma's mum, who was also the mum of the twins, had suffered from post-natal depression after Emma was born, which wasn't helped by Emma's father leaving her just after Emma was born. As a result, Emma had to be taken into care, as her mother couldn't look after her properly.

A few years later, Emma's mum had found herself a new boyfriend, and she gave birth to twins. However, when the twins were six she'd died, leaving their dad to look after them. He hated Billie, and insisted she was taken into care, and he was left to look after Toni. He tried to be a good father, buying her a rabbit, but then left the door of the hutch open for the rabbit to be eaten by foxes, and soon after Toni was taken into care too.

And now, four years after Toni had been taken into care (being seven at the time), the sisters were reunited.

After I'd finished typing up the notes into the files I went to check on Emma.

* * *

I found Emma in her room, along with a soft toy cat and a model cow calf.

"Hi," I said. "I just came to see how you were."

Emma smiled. "I'm OK." She paused. "Is that why I was sent here? To meet Billie and Toni?"

"I got an email that said you had a sister here which was why you were coming here instead of going anywhere else, so yes," I said. "But I didn't know until just before I called you down."

"It was nice meeting them," said Emma. She fiddled with the donkey charm around her neck again. "How long am I staying here?"

"Only a few days," I said. "Your social worker will come and pick you up when you're ready to move somewhere else."

Emma nodded.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" I asked. "Or anything you need?"

Emma paused for a moment. "Could you possible get Billie and Toni?"

I smiled. "Of course I can."

And I went off to find them.

 **A/N So, that's the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and liked the twist I put in (which I wasn't actually planning but then decided would be a good idea). Please review. :-D**


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